don't we? >> i feel at this point, this time. year main thing i accomplished this weekend was slipping on the ice and cracking my head, i was laying on the ground, saturday night, i'm outside miff back porch with the dog laying on the ice looking at the stars going "why aren't i in florida"? tuesday we'll make up forit. nfrjt have a great one. >> thanks to you at home for staying with us for the next hour. i got to tell you, florida is tomorrow night, florida is tuesday, but in my mind, honestly in politics, it's nevada week. it is florida week, too, right? but really, it's sort of nevada week. we're getting blanket coverage about what is happening in the florida primary. this is a good argument to be made nevada ought to be as important as florida is. this is a week with two tent poles, florida and nevada both. even though florida will have as many republicans voting in their primary as the number who voted

in iowa and new hampshire and south carolina combined and then some, a win in florida this year is worth precisely half as much as a win in florida has been worth in previous years. because florida wanted to be seen as really important in this year's presidential race, they intentionally broke the republican party's rules, when they moved up their primary date to make it early, to make it happen in january. florida moved the primary so early they lost half of their delegates. so tomorrow, in florida, instead of being 99 delegates up for grabs, it's only going to be 50. in their rush to get to the head of the line in terms of the order of the nominating contest, florida made itself half as important as it should have been. florida has roughly seven times the population of nevada, 19 million people. but they have less than two times the number of nevada's delegates. florida has 50 delegates, nevada has 28. also, it should be noted we at least sort of thing we know what

is going happen in florida. if you believe the polls, right? if you tivo a big football game and make the mistake of looking at the final score, takes away the umph, anything could happen, anything could happen tomorrow in florida. volatility is the only constant in this year's republican nominating race. but when you look at the latest polls out of florida the day before the primary. mitt romney is ahead by 20 points in the latest suffolk poll. leads newt gingrich by 15 points in the latest nbc news-maris pole. ahead by 14 points in quinnipiac. why is mitt romney leading by hunl numbers in florida? in part because he has been running for president for six years. he has bun reen running in flor for all those six years. two million buck as week to advertise in florida's major media markets. mitt romney and his campaign, after all mailde of money, they

have been campaigning for months before anyone else had ads on in this election season. the number of ads newt gingrich and the pacs have run in florida in a span of two weeks ahead of primary day. 210. look at mitt romney, not to scale, right? bone bother making a graph, i'm sorry. it looks like that is what, a third of 12,000? not to scale. mitt romney at 12,768. so yeah, he's winning. the democratic -- the worst bar graph in the history cable news. that is astonishing. the democratic party circulated this figure today without the worst graph ever, to give their spin on how mitt romney has put together this win in florida. florida also has early voting, so that also takes away a little of the drama for florida because any bump that mr. gingrich might have gotten out of his win in south carolina was muted by the

fact so many floridians had cast their ballots in the race. reasons this week to be even more excited for nevada than you might be for florida, in terms of delegates, on the line, florida had half of their delegates stripped by the republican party. mitt romney appears to also have florida in the bag, if you believe the polls. not a foregone conclusion, but it sort of is starting to look like a foregone conclusion. nevada looks to be up for grabs. the third reason why it's possible to be more excited about nevada than florida is nevada's columnists. yes, florida has carl hiassen. he wrote a column about pythons, enthusiasm with which pythons fall in love with each other and reproduce in the everglades. with the exception of him, nevada's columnists, the whole state is amazing in terms of political coverage. how can you beat this.

this is jane ann morrison in the las vegas review journal. the start of the column today. "doesn't that guy sticking a needle in that cat's butt look familiar? it's former senator john ensign who went back to work as a veterinarian. >> remember john ensign? part of the reason nobody has any what is going do happen with nevada's caucuses, and that state's 28 delegates. his sex and ethics scandal is part of the reason the nevada republican party disintegrated over the past few years. mr. ensign admitted to his affair, section and ethics scandal for two years before he resigned in 2011. it's not like the republican party was evolving from a previous position of strength. in 2008 before the john ensign scandal broke, the nevada

republican party was forced to cancel their annual state convention. they decided to can sell the convention and hold a conference call instead, nevada republicans citing a lack of interest. so they didn't hold it. a year later the john ensign scandal unfolded, the most prominent republican in the state except for the state's republican governor, who was at the time, also having his own scandal. nevada's governor jim gibbons left office in 2011, in the wake of allegations that among other things he too was engaged in an extramarital affair. then in the midst of all that, in the midst of the gibbons scandal and ensign zscandal, th anoinlted establishment candidate to run against harry reid, best chance they are ever going have to unseat the senate majority leader, their candidate would be sue loudon. remember her? before we all started having

health care in the olden days, our grandparents would bring a chicken to the doctor. >> she meant to the human doctor you would bring a chicken to pay for your checkup. chickens for checkups. she was the establishment choice for senate. in nevada. the choice of the republican establishment in the state of nevada. she lost to this person. >> will you answer some questions really quickly? i have to go. >> you don't have any --. >> we're running behind. >> you're not willing to answer what second amendment remedies means? sharon angle lost to harry reid in that senate race. obviously. nevada republicans are a mess. they have been a mess for quite a few years now, nevada republicans inability to get it together, to get out the vote for sharon engel, who was ahead, the most famous republican in the states castrating cats in las vegas and talking to local columnists, the nevada's part

pure fecklessness is what makes it so interesting. in a year defined by anti-establishment feeling in the party, in nevada we have something unique going on. in nevada there is no establishment. the ron paul campaign has been saying for weeks now their strategy is to do well in nevada and other states that have caucuses. their strategy to take advantage of the organizational strength and rack up as many delegates as possible. ron paul is not bothering wasting money or time in florida. when i came in work on friday we get a political note at the start of the day tells us where the candidates will be that day. in the note on friday, ron paul was in maine. in maine? really? the results of maine's caucuses will be announced on february 11th but ron paul was there putting in shoe leather. today my where are the politicians note said ron paul was home in texas with no public

events scheduled. apparently resting up. i guess for nevada. despite the fact that tonight is florida eve. so ron paul, long haul, caucus states, delegate strategy. now it's starting to sound like newt gingrich may also pursue a delegate strategy long haul strategy as well. >> the con ser servatives are rejecting romney. this is going to go all the way to the convention. >> all the way to the convention, that was newt gingrich yesterday on abc. later in the day, mr. gingrich told some reporters in florida "when you take all of the non-romney votes, it's very likely at the convention there will be a non-romney majority, and maybe a very substantial one. my job is to convert that in a pro-gingrich majority." that may sound crazy, gingrich will stay in to the convention, the republican establishment wants you to think that is

crazy. but one final thought here, there are 2288 delegates that are up for grabs in the republican presidential nominating process. let's see how we do. this is where we're at right now out of the 2288, so far, ron paul has 4. rick santorum has 14. newt gingrich has 26. mitt romney has 37. that is where we're at. th that sliver of delegates. newt gingrich and ron paul are pledging to take it all the way to the convention. if you think this is over because mitt romney is likely to win florida tomorrow? it doesn't seem like it will be over. it seems like maybe these guys have not yet begun to fight. joining us now is a man the most fun person to talk to about politics in the state of nevada, which is full of fun people to talk to about politics. jon ralston, thanks for being

here. >> good to see you rachel. still john ensign you're talking about two years later. >> the fact he's back and taking care of cats, we had to check in. the reason he was so relevant in 2010 when he was on his way out the door, he was a symbol and maybe the symptom and maybe the cause of nevada's republican party really falling apart. since 2010 have they gotten their act together at all? >> well they tried to, they have hired some professionals to have a good executive director, hired a professional firm to run the caucus, they have gone through chaos. had a chance to increase registration rolls and with same day registration as the democrats, you may remember in 2008 got 116,000 people to come out, they registered 30,000 new voters. but the crazy conspiracy

theorista said harry reid will infiltrate. they still have a lot of problems. john ensign our former governor jim gibbons went a long way in hurting the republican brand in nevada. >> last time around in 2008 if i remember correctly it was mitt romney and ron paul, we didn't see much of john mccain at all in nevada. what are you seeing so far in terms of what kind of investments the candidates are making there, how will they pay off? >> well, mitt romney as you mentioned has been running for president for six years, he has been here essentially all that time. he didn't leave in 2008, he still has the infrastructure set up. he won the caucus in 2008, 51%, you mentioned the john mccain didn't even campaign here, ron paul finished in second with 14%. i think romney is the favorite but the poll folks are more organized than they were in 2008, rachel. i wouldn't discount them, paul

is invested fairly heavily on television, also mostly positive ads. so i wouldn't completely count him out. gingrich is just getting started here as is santorum, very difficult to organize from the ground up for a caucus that quickly. >> sheldon adelson the billionaire vegas casino mogul, injected $10 million in the gingrich campaign. some controversy about a special caucus going to be held late on saturday at a school named after him in the county in which he lives. he's being credited with sustaining the campaign through south carolina and in part in florida, how should we see him as a factor in his home caucuses in nevada? >> i think this is ironic, i think sheldon adelson will have more influence on newt gingrich's campaign outside of nevada than he has inside nevada. he saved newt gingrich by that money he infused in the super pac alined with newt in south

carolina, then his wife invested five million more. you put up the ads. the comparison hasn't worked there. what is he doing there, you mentioned a special caucus, that is a night caucus for observant jews, they protested this was going on. his spokesman is distancing adelson from all this it's too late because it's at his school, he called the clark county chairman, the chairman told me to inquire about the caucus, clearly he wanted it, that is only going to be a few hundred voters. not like all the employe the venician and palazzo will show up to vote. he has had more influence on the race outside nevada than inside. >> influence outside nevada, globally can't be overstated. i don't think there would be a gingrich candidacy without him. this is going to be a fascinating week to watch.

jon ralston, great to see you, i have a feeling we will talk before the weekend, thank you. >> great to be with you, rachel. the interview tonight is frank rich, the frank rich, very excited about that. best new thing in the world on tap and debun shun junction all ahead. . and i took nyquil, but i'm still stubbed up. [ male announcer ] sorry buddy. truth is, nyquil doesn't un-stuff your nose. what? it doesn't have a decongestant. really? [ male announcer ] you need a more complete cold and flu formula, like alka-seltzer plus liquid gels. it's specially formulated to fight your worst cold and flu symptoms, plus relieve your stuffy nose. [ deep breath ] thank you! [ male announcer ] you're welcome. that's the cold truth! [ male announcer ] and to fight your allergy symptoms fast, try new alka-seltzer plus allergy.

armer who says...

[farmer:] we've gotta protect the land. [announcer:] and, to the shopper who says... [consumer:] the economists make some good points. [announcer:] we say, you're right. find out how natural gas answers both at powerincooperation.com.

you a dfrn add up the net worth of richard nick son, ronald reagan, george h.w. bush and bill clinton and george w. bush and barack obama the peak life time wealth of those presidents and double it, you double that combined amount, that is the associated press's estimate of the ballpark wealth of mitt romney. interestingly, even though mitt romney is worth double the peak lifetime wealth of all those presidents combined, he's only worth about two rick scotts. rick scott is the governor of florida, he was elected in 2010, rick scott is a stizillionair. spent $73 million o a lot in florida politics, personal money or campaign money. mitt romney and his support ers are outspending newt gingrich 5-to-1. despite mr. gingrich post south carolina surge, if the polls in florida hold through tomorrow, mr. gingrich looks like he will be bury tomorrow under an avalanche of romney bucks. part of the reason that mitt romney is so personally wealthy has to do with florida. in 1994, bain capital, which he was running at the time, bought a medical company that had roots in florida. in 1996 and 1997, bain helped the company take over two more medical companies. they also started, as they say,

cutting costs. they closed a plant in puerto rico, eliminated between 300 and 400 jobs there. they also shut down operations in miami. that move eliminated 850 miami jobs. cut out $30 million in payroll t employees received as salary. taken out of the miami economy when bain shut the plant down. two years later, bain made sure bain got paid. they had the same company where they fired all the workers take on a huge amount of debt, for the purpose of paying bain capital. after the layoffs in puerto rico and miami and the debt. bain walked away with $242 million for themselves and their investors. in 2002, a few years later the medical company filed for bankruptcy. it was buried under all the debt and it was bankrupt for five years before it came out and was bought by another company. this is one of those deals mitt romney worked on while he was running the show at bain. but then the deal continued

paying off for him after he left the company. his arrangement with bain capital is that he still gets paid now. so part of why mitt romney is worth more money than richard nixon, gerald ford, jimmy carter, ronald reagan, bill clinton, the bushes, and barack obama combined times two is because 850 people lost their jobs in miami in 1997. making money is one thing. making money is one thing. having money is another. this is something that has received sort of here and there attention in the last week since mr. romney released his tax returns, since we learned he only pays a special mini tax rate that is reserved for people who don't work, but who live off long term investments on their giant piles of money. but making money and having money are a different thing. if you would like to choose between which one of those ways is a nicer way to make a living, just having money and living off the interest it makes? in the big piles?

is a much easier way to do it. much more lucrative way to do it. mini tax rate, 13.9% in the one year he's given full tax returns, that mini tax rate has not been around forever. relatively modern tax loophole says if you're jk is earned on investments you had more than a year, if your income is earned on giant piles of money instead of wages, you only have to pay 15%. mr. romney left bain in 1998 but still every year gets paid a huge amount of money from bain. still, now. on the deals he did while he was there. and he pays taxes at that tiny little mini tax rate. why does that little tax rate exist? it exists because a company called bain lobbied for it. on this i must defer to the master, jon stewart. >> in 2007 there was a bipartisan bill to make private

equity investors pay the ordinary income tax rate of 35% on their carried interested earnings instead of 15% they were paying since 1987. funny story. >> do you suspect the tax treatment for carried interest will be changed? >> listen, if i could tell you about the number of lobbyists hired in the last two months to work this issue, you would know that it would be very risky for me to predict what would happen on this. >> may i make a prediction because i'm in the future? yeah, they killed it. by the way, who were those lobbyists? who had so much influence over our government that charlie grassly, the republican senate financial committee ranking guy, co-sponsored the bill to adjust the tax rate. who were the lobbyists so powerful this guy [ bleep ] like he's talking about baltimore.

it was the private equity counsel, a lobbying group surprise surprise by the biggest private equity firms including bain capital. now, to be fair, bain is not romney, romney is not necessarily bain. this whole issue could be an issue they part ways on and roll tape from 2007. >> have you come out on the proposals coming out of the democratic congress to raise taxes on hedge funds, private equity funds, venture capital funds so forth? >> yeah, i don't think it's a good idea to raise taxes. >> yeah! because they are your taxes! not to say mitt romney doesn't believe -- not to say mitt romney doesn't believe the tax system need not be reformed. there are certain taxes he feels should be raised. >> 47% of americans paying no income tax that is a heck of a big number. >> yes. the tax code is so unfair to

you. to clarify the millions of dollars that mitt romney saves because of the aggressively lobbied 15% tax rate is legal and fair, and he's entitled to that from the government, no strings attached. but where does romney stand on other such government largesse? >> i like the idea people receiving assistance, welfare assistance have a responsibility of working. >> he wants us to become entitlement society. people feel they are entitled to something from government. >> poor people have [ bleep ] lobbyists. >> the great jon stewart of comedy central. he did that segment last week and that was a sort of a rip off of jon stewart by showing you that, but b, i don't think anybody showed it better or more clearly, that was an homage to mr. stewart. mother jones posted a piece about the issue but other than that overlooked piece on the daily show last week, genius and

mother jones doing this today, this otherwise is not sinking in. the reason mitt romney pays only a mini tax on the money he made closing factories at bain because bain uses their share of the money they made closing factor is to lobby for executives to keep paying that rate. so yeah, poor people do have sucky lobbyists. on the eve of the florida primary, mitt romney is getting paid for laying people off in florida. but money from his campaign and from his super pac has bought a whole lot of tv ads that make it look like he would be great for florida. americans are always ready to work hard for a better future.

since ameriprise financial was founded back in 1894, they've been committed to putting clients first. helping generations through tough times. good times. never taking a bailout. there when you need them. helping millions of americans over the centuries. the strength of a global financial leader. the heart of a one-to-one relationship. together for your future. ♪ but my nose is still runny. [ male announcer ] truth is, dayquil doesn't treat that. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your runny nose. [ deep breath ] awesome.

[ male announcer ] yes, it is. that's the cold truth!

one of the reasons that you might want to be president one day is because presidents get to do a weekly address on anything they want. and good radio stations all over the country air that address and you can watch it online and opposing party runs a rebuttal like a mini state of the union every weekend with less clapping and because i guess only poll sticks dorks and people like me who love a.m. radio pays attention. it happens every weekend. this weekend the republican response was delivered by florida senator marco rubio. >> the bottom line is this president inherited a country with serious problems. he asked the congress to give him the stimulus and obama care to fix it, the democrats in congress gave to it him. not only didn't it work, it made everything worse.

>> worse. you keep using that word. i don't think it means what you think it means. here, the red bars are private sector job growth during the bush administration. the blue bars are private sector job growth during the obama administration. so when marco rubio says he inherited something bad but made it worse. when he says things are getting worse under obama, you must mean the opposite of that, right? here is another, here is economic growth. red equals bush, blue is obama. the president inherited a bad situation but made it worse, when marco rubio says that, he doesn't mean it. >> it made everything worse. >> he can't mean that. he can't mean that. when marco rubio says that, he can't mean it. he either doesn't mean it because he doesn't know the truth or doesn't mean it because he doesn't know what the word "worse" means or he doesn't mean it because he's a freshman and

he thinks nobody takes him seriously or doesn't even bother to get stuff right because he doesn't care. for the record, marco rubio is wrong on this and should correct what he said. when i grow up, i want to fix up old houses. ♪ [ woman ] when i grow up, i want to take him on his first flight. i want to run a marathon. i'm going to own my own restaurant. when i grow up, i'm going to start a band. [ female announcer ] at aarp we believe you're never done growing. thanks, mom. i just want to get my car back. [ female announcer ] discover what's next in your life. get this free travel bag when you join at aarp.org/jointoday.

of how a shipping giant can befriend a forest may seem like the stuff of fairy tales. but if you take away the faces on the trees... take away the pixie dust. take away the singing animals, and the storybook narrator... [ man ] you're left with more electric trucks. more recycled shipping materials... and a growing number of lower emissions planes... which still makes for a pretty enchanted tale. ♪ la la la [ man ] whoops, forgot one... [ male announcer ] sustainable solutions. fedex. solutions that matter. ask me. [ male announcer ] sustainable solutions. [ male announcer ] even if you think you can live with your old mattress... ask me how i've never slept better. [ male announcer ] ...why not talk to one of the 6 million people who've switched to the most highly recommended bed in america? it's not a sealy, a simmons, or a serta. ask me about my tempur-pedic. ask me how i can finally sleep all night. ask me how great my back feels every morning. [ male announcer ] did you know there's a tempur-pedic for everybody? tempur-pedic beds now come in soft, firm, and everything in between. ask me how i don't wake up anymore when he comes to bed.

[ male announcer ] these are real tempur-pedic owners. ask someone you know. check out twitter or your friends on facebook. you'll hear it all, unedited. ask me how i wish i'd done this sooner. ask me how it's the best investment i've ever made. [ male announcer ] tempur-pedic brand owners are more satisfied than owners of any traditional mattress brand. ♪ to learn more or find an authorized retailer near you, visit tempurpedic.com. tempur-pedic. the most highly recommended bed in america.

my partner susan these a theory, your dog tends to obey its name. if you have a dog named ranger or rover, that might be a great name but your dog will not like to come home when you call it. i propose naming a new dog we were getting chewie, she said no, the dog willful fill that destiny. i got shot down for houdini because he would slip his collar. the name dewey, i didn't expect her to shoot that down. what could be wrong, no, dewey famous for losing. every third person our dog meets will be thinking dewey defeats truman. thomas dewey was favored to beat harry truman in 1948. he did not. that is president truman looking

ecstatic, holding a copy of the chicago tribune. that newspaper, like practically every newspaper in every political hack in the country that year, had written truman off, picked dewey to defeat him. he didn't. truman won. that is dewey with the amazing mustache. he was in his day seen as the inevitable candidate. had been the republican presidential nominee in 1944, when he loss to fdr, was the republican nominee for president again in 1948, when he lost to truman, even though everybody thought he would win. this year, when i look in the eyes of mitt romney, i will admit i have been seeing bob dole but frank rich at new york magazine when he looks in the ice i eyes of mitt romney he sees thomas dewey. frank rich tends to see these things earlier than most of us do. and it's probably true the name dewey would make for a defeatist

little dog. joining us is new york magazine's writer at large, frank rich. his piece is in the most recent issue of "new york magazine" who in god's name is mitt romney. frank, thank you for being here. >> delighted to be here, rachel, as always. >> comparison to thomas dewey is not the central point of the column you made it at the end, i thought alot about thomas dewey, why do you see him in romney? >> he was a complacent campaigner and cautious, in 1948, he felt the less he said, the more he avoided couldn't veer -- controversy the better. romney saying "i believe in america" and boilerplate, dewed did the same thing. the future is ahead of us, that was his idea of a political platform, and in the end, of course, he was surprised and there were a couple other parallels, biggest is that we know that barack obama is

planning to go run against a do nothing congress, which was exactly truman's campaign in 48. truman had very low popularity ratings going in that election, and triumphed over dewey. dewey was also like romney, a northeastern governor, new york, and a moderate republican. however, he had more spine than romney, because he actually remained a moderate republican at the end of his career was on the other side of joe mccarthy of goldwater, so, also he had more accomplishments before he game governor of new york, a mob buster, prosecutors went after dutch schultz and so on. compare to romney, he's almost exciting, charismatic. >> he's handsome, right, sort of ran as an upstanding guy who you would like to live next door to, a solid character. >> right. >> and you are describing that

as the same thing that romney is going at in the vaguest possible sense. but in a way that still leaves his core believes and the core things about it, his personality illusive. running almost in a ghosty fashion. >> yeah, one thing i have been grappling with, a lot of people have been is why does this guy not connect? why does he seem plastic, basically? the standard answer is he's stiff, he's rich, he needs better performance skills, needs to learn how to speak better before crowds, but i think part of it is also one thing that he feels really passionate about is his religion. a long history in the mormon church as a leader, because he feels, it would be sad it's true, people are bigoted about it, he doesn't want to talk about it. that is something he cares about more than bain and the money and all the cayman islands and swiss bank accounts. but you feel that there --

you're not getting the true romney, i don't think we are. >> maybe that is the thing that he could tell stories about that he could talk about in a personal way that would for lack of a better term animate him, would make us sense more of who he is? >> i agree, i think that is exactly it and i think the mormon religion is an interesting great american story, that a lot of things about it have been good for the country, built the country in the west he doesn't go there it's almost as if he's closeted about his religion, that makes him seem fake. >> i have always said my advice to gay people has been gay people should come out of the closet, if they can, if only because closeted people are boring. >> that is exactly it. just like sexual orientation, religious orientation, it is a part of your being and so if he can't -- if he has to as it were, stay in the closet about being a mormon, even when he gives a big speech about giving a mormon last time around he

used the word exactly once. he's frightened about talking about the things he cares about, devoted his life and fortune to as well. >> you raised important political questions that could be asked about the mormon church during his times as a leader there. important questions about women in the church, about african americans in the church, very difficult history in the mormon church, being barred until later than you think that could be possible at a time when mitt romney was already a leader in his church. is it not just a fear of religious bigotry, or that there are hard political questions there's may be difficult political answer to about his time? >> i think there are. theological questions don't matter, every religious is entitled to their own theology, but the truth is the mormon church has been a player in various things, campaigned

against equal rights amendment for women, institutionally, very slow in civil rights. in 1978, that is how long it took for blacks to get fully kwa full equality in the church. they drummed up $20 million for proposition 8. 80, 90% of the volunteers who organized that juggernaut were mormons. that is a big player in an important political issue that affected the law in the state of california. where was he? as a contributor and leader? >> those are issues that can not only be personally animating. i heard mr. romney talk about civil right and the church and not seen him become emotional but heard him describe himself becoming emotional which is as lows as we had to an emotional

sighting. >> he talked about it in the last campaign you may recall he said on "meet the press" that he had seen his father march with martin luther king, which turned out to be complete and utter fiction, his father had not marched with king. maybe we can be sympathetic he felt he had to overcompensate for his church's behavior in those years and the way it treated african americans, but still that is weird to talk movingly about something that never happened. >> you obviously are not going to be a personal who the romney campaign or any other republican campaign seeks out for advice. but it seems to me your piece in the new york magazine and what you are saying here is essentially advice that the campaign could reasonably take, this might be a way to make people connect with your candidate. do you think that the campaign would ever consider that? it seems like the way they are addressing any issues about the candidates religion to label anybody who raises them in a respectful way as a bigot. >> so yes, they will try to pave

it over they won't succeed because we know presidential campaigns strip people bare, assuming romney may well get the nomination, at least he will be there through the whole process, it's going to be relentless, people look at everything. so they are sort of kidding themselves and i think it would humanize him to talk about his faith, given his importance to it and its importance to him, and to be candid about where he agrees, disagrees, not about theology, not about joseph smith, but 20th and 21st century politics in america. >> and his role in them. >> exactly. >> frank rich, great to see you, thanks for being here. >> great to see you, rachel. after this show on the last word you expect the republican national committee chairman to go after the president, he does so on a daily basis, the way he did it yesterday has a certain boomer rang quality, making more headlines for that certain chairman than the president.

lauren o'donnell has those details next. another debunktion junction, that is next, stick around. made. our science teacher helped us build it. ♪ now i'm a geologist at chevron, and i get to help science teachers. it has four servo motors and a wireless microcontroller. over the last three years we've put nearly 100 million dollars into american education. that's thousands of kids learning to love science. ♪ isn't that cool? and that's pretty cool. ♪ [ male announcer ] when a moment suddenly turns romantic, men with erectile dysfunction can be more confident in their ability to be ready with cialis for daily use. even if it doesn't happen every day, you can be ready anytime the moment's right, because you take a clinically proven low-dose tablet every day. [ man ] tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medications

and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sexual activity. don't take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. [ man ] do not drink alcohol in excess with cialis. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than 4 hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, stop taking cialis and call your doctor right away. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor if cialis for daily use is right for you. for a 30-tablet free trial offer, go to cialis.com. ♪ spark card from capital one. spark cash gives me the most rewards of any small business credit card. it's hard for my crew to keep up with 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. 2% cash back. that's setting the bar pretty high. thanks to spark, owning my own business has never been more rewarding. [ male announcer ] introducing spark the small business credit cards from capital one. get more by choosing unlimited double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase, every day.

what's in your wallet? this guy's amazing.

. debunktion junction, what's my function. true or false?

has he has been widely reported tomorrow's primary in florida is a winner take all con techlts you heard this, right? the candidate who wins the most votes get all of all of florida delegates. florida, unlike south carolina s a winner take all state in terms of delegates for the republican nomination. is that true or is that false? false. false, sort of. the republican party tried to make states go later this year, only iowa, new hampshire, south carolina and nevada were allowed to go before super tuesday in march. any other state that decided to go earlier than that would get docked half their delegates. so florida got docked from its 99 delegates down to 50. then the republican party came up with another punishment for any state that wants to go before april. those states would not be allowed to give all of their delegates to the winner. they couldn't be winner take all. they would have to give out their delegates proportionally. florida broke both of those rules but ultimately they've

decided just to blow off that last one. they decided they'd been punished enough by losing half their delegates and they're going to award their delegates, winner take all. that's why everybody's been saying that florida is winner take all. they are planning on that. they would like it to be so. however, there are rules and as reported, nobody really knows how florida is going to allot its delegates in the end. quote, all it takes is a registered florida republican to file a protest with the rnc and the party's contest committee would have to consider the issue when it meets in august just before the convention. so, bottom line, florida wants to be winner take all in terms of its delegates. they want to be seen that way. they want you to say that about them. they're sort of not supposed to be able to say that. and it maybe won't be decided until august how florida allocates its delegates. anybody who tells you that it is a settled issue has not sprained

their blessed eyeballs reading republican national committee arcane delegate rules. there you have it. next up, true or false, republican presidential candidate mitt romney says catholic hospitals should be exempt from a law requiring them to dispense contraception? is that true or is that false? true. that is true. now that mitt romney is running for president. there is a "no co-payments for birth control" policy that's part of women's health and preventive health care in the affordable care act. those regulations have an exemption for religious employers like churches. but there is not an exemption for those regulations for large institution that is serve the general public even if they may be religious in nature, places like catholic hospitals. the romney campaign is calling that lack of an exemption for catholic hospitals, a direct attack on religious liberty that will not stand in a romney presidency. mitt romney says catholic

hospitals should be exempt from that law requiring them to cover contraception as part of health care. that is true. also, that is false or at least it was false when mitt romney was the governor of massachusetts. in one specific instance. in 2005, there was a proposal in massachusetts to exempt catholic hospitals from a law requiring them to dispense emergency contraception specifically to a woman who had been raped. governor romney says catholic hospitals should not be exempt from that. he said at the time, quote, i think it is in my personal view, it's the right thing for hospitals to provide information and access emergency contraception of anyone who is the victim of a rape. that's president mitt romney and that's governor mitt romney. mr. romney should probably be asked now about 2005 mitt romney's gubernatorial position and whether or not he agrees with his old self on that part of it. and finally, true or false --

everybody who lives in the wonderful state of south dakota has 46 early voting days in the primary and general elections this year? 46 days, is that true or false? false. south dakotaens do have 46 days to cast their ballots this year especially in a rural state where getting to a polling stays could take more than a hop, skip and a jump. but it's said, not everybody in south dakota gets this deal. not everybody in south dakota is being allowed to avail themselves of that 46-day early voting window. instead of 46 days, members of at least one native american tribe in south dakota get only six days. so they get six days to vote instead of 46 days to vote for everybody else in the state. the tribe is suing the state of south dakota and local officials saying the 40 days' difference between their voting window and everybody else's voting window in the state is akin to a poll

tax. it's also akin to ridiculous. we'll be right back. [ wind sounds ] [ horn honks ] [ dog barks ] [ dog whimpers ] [ wind whistling ] [ dog whimpers ] ♪ feel the power my young friend. mmm! [ male announcer ] for excellent fruit and veggie nutrition... v8 v-fusion, also refreshing plus tea. could've had a v8. before i started taking abilify, i was taking an antidepressant alone.

most days i could put on a brave face and muddle through. but other days i still struggled with my depression. i was managing, but it always had a way of creeping up on me. i felt stuck. i just couldn't shake my depression. so i talked to my doctor. he said adding abilify to my antidepressant could help with my depression, and that some people had symptom improvement as early as 1 to 2 weeks. he also told me about a free trial offer from abilify! now i feel more in control of my depression. [ male announcer ] abilify is not for everyone. call your doctor if your depression worsens or if you have unusual changes in behavior, or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase these in children, teens and young adults. elderly dementia patients taking abilify have an increased risk of death or stroke. call your doctor if you have high fever, stiff muscles and confusion to address a possible life-threatening condition. or if you have uncontrollable muscle movements, as these could become permanent. high blood sugar has been reported with abilify and medicines like it. in some cases, extreme high blood sugar can lead to coma or death.

other risks include decreases in white blood cells, which can be serious, dizziness upon standing, seizures, trouble swallowing, and impaired judgment or motor skills. depression used to define me, then my doctor added abilify to my antidepressant. now, i feel better. [ male announcer ] if you're still struggling with depression talk to your doctor to see if the option of adding abilify is right for you. and be sure to ask about the free trial offer.

our nation's first-ever parade for troops coming home from the war in iraq. it happened saturday in st. louis, missouri. the welcome home parade was the brainchild of just two guys from st. louis with a facebook page who had never done anything like this before. but they pulled it off with the help of some generous local companies and a city with the will to do it. tens of thousands of people lined the troops, cheering people and shaking hands. this is a "thank you" big enough to make the nation notice and also personal enough to grab your heart and rattle it a little. >> twice army national guard major rick ranford has flown home after serving in iraq.

>> i was home. >> reporter: he was touched by the outpouring of his hometown. >> completely overwhelmed. >> that was from "nightly news" this weekend. our nation's been debating whether now is a good time to celebrate veterans coming home from iraq, especially since so many of them are being redeployed to afghanistan, a war still ongoing. still, on sunday, the giants will be playing the patriots in the super bowl. by tradition, the winning team in the super bowl gets a big parade downtown. the new york giants got one in 2008, the last year they were champions. the patriots got one in 2005 when they were champs. nothing wrong with celebrating football. i myself am a celebrant. i wonder if it won't be weird for our corrupt to go crazy over a sports team while still saying not yet to the veterans. my friend paul ryecoff challenged the mayors of new